Portable pipes are commonly used for irrigation and to transport water where a temporary pipeline is sufficient for a short-time need. As water becomes a scarce commodity, particularly in dry, agricultural areas such as California, irrigation sprinklers and drip irrigation systems are essential to conserve water and produce crops on rapidly diminishing farmland. Temporary water systems are also commonly used to control dust on construction sites, fight fires, or provide water during emergencies.
Irrigation systems can be permanent, semi-portable, or fully portable. Permanent irrigation systems are typically composed of metal and plastics, and the parts are generally fused together to prevent water leakage. Fully portable systems are easily assembled and disassembled. Portable systems therefore require lightweight equipment such as aluminum or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes in relatively short sections. The systems include a multiplicity of gaskets and other water-tight seals so as to build sufficient water pressure to expel water through sprinkler heads or drip irrigation equipment.
Portable pipe systems frequently suffer from water leakage, corrosion, and are cumbersome to install because of all the coupling locations and variable components. At the very least, each system contains a series of pipes coupled to a main system: some supplying the water to sprinkler heads or drip irrigation equipment and other portable pipe systems simply used for water transport fitted to the pipes.
FIG. 1 (prior art) is from U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,826, and illustrates a sprinkler fitting 100 that is coupled to irrigation pipes (not shown). The sprinkler riser orifice 105 contains threads 110 for screwing the sprinkler head into the sprinkler fitting 100. A flexible polymeric spline 115 is inserted in each through-hole 120 between irrigation pipes and the tubular fitting member 125 to form two mechanical latches. This portable pipe coupling, which is used to join two separate pipes, is slow and cumbersome to install and requires several parts to complete a pipe line. This coupling is a recent modification for PVC pipe.
Connections for aluminum and steel pipes in portable systems also include gaskets and a locking device. FIG. 2 (prior art) is an example of an aluminum fitting 127 pressed or welded to the aluminum pipe with a latching mechanism 130. FIG. 3 (prior art) is an example of a galvanized fitting 135 pressed into an aluminum pipe with a locking mechanism 140. FIG. 4 (prior art) is an example of a joint assembly with a detachable coupler 145 that is coupled to the pipe 147 by inserting a spline 150 into the insertion hole 152 in the coupler 145.
Current technology for PVC systems use loose couplers. FIG. 5 (prior art) is an example of a loose coupler 155 for connecting two pipes 157. FIG. 6 (prior art) is another example of a loose coupler 160 with two insertion holes 162 for splines.